O2 UK Switches On 5G Standalone Mobile Broadband Network in Wales
Posted: Wed May 06, 2026 8:35 am
Mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) has this morning announced that they’ve switched-on their next-generation 5G Standalone (5GSA / 5G+) mobile broadband network in Wales, which is said to reach more than 800,000 residents and businesses across 9 large towns and cities, 18 smaller towns, and 133 villages.
The new 5G+ network is now live across more than 86% of the UK’s population. The technology offers a pure end-to-end 5G network that can deliver ultra-low latency times, greater energy efficiency, better speeds (particularly uploads), network slicing, improved support for IoT devices, increased reliability and security etc. By comparison, early 5G networks used a Non-Standalone (NSA) approach, which was hobbled by being partly reliant upon older and slower 4G infrastructure.
NOTE: The upgrade forms part of O2’s wider £700m Mobile Transformation Plan for 2026.
O2’s 5GSA rollout first began in February 2024 (here) and aims to reach “at least 90% outdoor coverage” in every location they cover. The operator’s rollout across Wales includes locations such as Cardiff, Newport, Barry, Barry Island, Cwmbran, Penarth, Risca, Chepstow, Caldicot, Monmouth, Llantwit Major, Caerleon, Dinas Powis, Radyr, Magor, Rhoose, Sully, Roglet, Tongqynlais, St Athan, Pen-y-Rheol, Thornhill, Whitchurch, and Morganstown.
The new network is typically available to O2 customers with compatible devices “at no extra cost“, although we do wish that mobile operators would start giving geographic coverage figures for their 5G+ network as population figures always sound better than the reality often shows.
Professor Robert Joyce, Director of Mobile Access Engineering at O2, said:
“This is a significant step forward for mobile connectivity in Wales. We’re expanding 5G+ across cities like Cardiff and Newport as well as towns, villages and rural communities right across the country, bringing faster speeds, lower latency and a more reliable experience to more than 800,000 people.
“Backed by our tidy £700 million Mobile Transformation Plan and cracking innovations like O2 Satellite, we’re not just upgrading the network, we’re extending high-quality coverage into parts of Wales that have historically been harder to reach.”
Source: https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2 ... wales.html